Ren Qing fixed his gaze on Jingzhou.
Since he was going to begin laying out his plans, he needed to come into contact with more Immortal Positions.
The battle between the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal and the Taiyin Star Lord would continue for hundreds or even thousands of years. He just needed to find an opportunity to pull both of those Immortal Positions into the greater game.
Ren Qing was especially interested in the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal's Immortal Position. After all, two branches of the Restraint Officers' Hall were related to Heavenly Dao Methods. If possible, it would be best to bring the Fortune Virtue Earth Immortal under his own control.
If the Restraint Officers' Hall was to influence the overall situation indirectly, it naturally had to participate as one of the major powers. Along the way, it could also seize several Immortal Positions.
After refining his plans, Ren Qing returned to the Longevity Restricted Zone half a day later and once again arrived before the grave where Fengshen Boqiang was buried.
The corpse was still undergoing mutation and aberration. An ordinary cultivator would only need to glance at it before Heavenly Dao Transformation began corroding both body and soul.
Seeing this, Ren Qing activated The World Is Like a Dream. Using the Cancer Disease Tree disease strain, he altered Boqiang's corpse and deliberately reduced its compatibility with the Immortal Position.
That way, once the Immortal Position was freed from the corpse's restraints, its Heavenly Dao Transformation would gradually recover over time.
Ren Qing estimated that after about three hundred years had passed in the outside world, Fengshen Boqiang's Heavenly Dao Transformation should decline to below fifty percent.
Fifty percent Heavenly Dao Transformation marked the dividing line between Turbid Immortals and Weird Immortals.
He had to ensure that the War of Enfeoffing Immortals would not end up creating a group of Turbid Immortals. Simply reducing the Heavenly Dao Transformation of the Immortal Positions alone was not enough.
After confirming that the Immortal Position had been sealed securely enough, he left the Longevity Restricted Zone and returned to seclusion within his underground cave abode to stabilize his cultivation.
By the time Ren Qing came back to his senses, more than two months had already passed.
The Heavenly Palace and the Underworld had also completed their transformation. The Heavenly Palace now spanned well over a hundred li, while the Underworld's three-layered structure resembled a funnel.
The Yin Qi in the upper two layers near the surface was comparatively thin. The Yin Qi in the third layer had begun to condense into mist, and even zombies and Nether Souls found it difficult to enter.
The Restraint Officers' Hall had become extraordinarily busy. All available manpower had been poured into renovating the Heavenly Palace and the Underworld. Construction was taking place around the clock.
Ren Qing thought to himself that although several thousand years sounded like a long time, as more and more Heavenly Aberration cultivators became involved, the situation would inevitably become increasingly tense.
As for his next cultivation goals, he would first raise his remaining techniques to the Heavenly Aberration realm, then focus all his efforts on Heaven and Earth Genesis and strive to reach the peak of the Heavenly Aberration realm as soon as possible.
Heaven and Earth Genesis was tied to the number of Immortal Offices available. The Earth Immortal Office was almost certainly not the highest level.
If nothing unexpected happened, there were probably two more levels beyond the Earth Immortal Office: the Divine Immortal Office, representing Pure Yang born after exhausting Yin, and the Heavenly Immortal Office, transcending both the mortal world and heaven itself.
Ghost Immortal, Human Immortal, Earth Immortal, Divine Immortal, Heavenly Immortal.
As far as Ren Qing remembered, these were the Five Classes of Immortals from the Daoist traditions of his previous life. The Immortal Office system followed exactly the definition of immortality from those memories.
To be on the safe side, Fengshen Boqiang should ideally receive an Earth Immortal Office instead.
However, since the grand situation of the Enfeoffment of Immortals had yet to unfold, using a Human Immortal Office as a substitute for now posed no major problem. He could wait until Heaven and Earth Genesis broke through its current realm.
Ren Qing looked toward the Heavenly Dao of Stomach World. At present, there remained one vacant Earth Immortal Office, three Human Immortal Offices, and twelve Ghost Immortal Offices.
Strictly speaking, the Mountain God formed from Chen Changsheng's remnant soul also counted as an Immortal Office, albeit an extremely rudimentary one that could not stray far from the mountain.
After thinking for a moment, Ren Qing decided to bestow the Immortal Offices upon various cultivators, then provide opportunities for promotion based on their contributions to the Restraint Officers' Hall.
With that thought, he activated the abilities of Dao Dao Dao and rewrote the laws of Stomach World.
The previously intangible Immortal Offices immediately materialized into physical objects resembling official seals, each inlaid with four flawless jade gemstones.
Cultivators holding an Immortal Office could summon it for inspection whenever they wished.
Once all four jade gemstones began to emit light, the Ghost Immortal Office would automatically advance into a Human Immortal Office.
The only troublesome matter was the contribution system. He would probably need to refine a dedicated artifact spirit to oversee the promotion and demotion of Immortal Offices. That was yet another troublesome task.
However, until the number of available Immortal Offices increased, Ren Qing had no intention of opening the promotion system. Even the Ghost Immortal Offices were already in short supply.
Fortunately, the prison guards cultivated efficiently enough, so bestowing them upon strange entities was also a worthwhile option.
If nothing unexpected happened, the Human Immortal Offices would likely go to Song Zongwu, Li Tiangang, and the Great Dream真人, who had yet to return to Xiangxiang.
Ren Qing suddenly thought of something. He took out a Ghost Immortal Office shaped like an official seal, then chose Corpse Fengdu as its recipient.
It had only been a casual attempt, yet to his surprise, the Ghost Immortal Office merged directly into the Immortal Position.
As a result, Fengdu Corpse Emperor established a connection with Zhenyuan Earth Ancestor. The latter faintly assumed the dominant position, despite No-Birth Immortal having only recently advanced.
It was somewhat similar to a primary and secondary technique relationship, though nowhere near as tightly linked.
Ren Qing noticed that his control over the Fengdu Corpse Emperor had become far more precise, and the recovery speed of his Heavenly Dao Cracks had also increased.
To put it simply, it was as though the Fengdu Corpse Emperor had suddenly acquired Heavenly Dao laws that belonged exclusively to Ren Qing, no longer remaining limited by the Three Dao Ancestors of the outside world.
He tried the same thing on Dream Immortal Zhili, but since Zhili Technique was only at the Yang God realm, the Immortal Position had not yet fully taken shape.
Ren Qing had no idea what miraculous developments the Immortal Offices would undergo once Heaven and Earth Genesis achieved immortality.
Still, it was undoubtedly a good thing that the Immortal Positions could free themselves from the influence of the Three Dao Ancestors.
Perhaps this was connected to realms beyond the Earth Immortal stage.
Ren Qing summoned the information flow. As expected, the technique's information had also changed.
[Lifespan: Unlimited]
[Techniques: Heaven and Earth Genesis (Return to One)]
[Immortal Body: Myriad Phenomena Return to One (Pseudo)]
[Divine Power: Method of Modeling Heaven and Earth]
[Immortal Position: Zhenyuan Earth Ancestor (Pseudo)]
[Immortal Office: Heavenly Dao, Corpse Fengdu (Heavenly Lord)]
[Immortal Body: Undying Imperial Corpse (Pseudo)]
[Divine Power: Death Gives No Birth]
[Immortal Position: Fengdu Corpse Emperor (Pseudo)]
[Immortal Office: Ghost Immortal]
Ren Qing did not choose to replace the Fengdu Corpse Emperor's Immortal Office with one of a higher rank.
He had a feeling that the Heavenly Immortal Office would be the one truly unique office among them all. The Heavenly Dao blessings provided by the other Immortal Offices meant little to him personally.
Since he could not bring his physical body into Stomach World, the cultivation benefits were almost nonexistent. A Ghost Immortal Office was more than sufficient for the time being.
He decided to distribute the remaining Immortal Offices. After that, he still had to deal with matters concerning the Earth Immortal Office.
After resting for several days, Ren Qing projected his consciousness into the Zhili Palace where Dream City was located.
He activated Zhili Technique. The light in the sky twisted before gradually forming a dream platform with the texture of jade.
The platform blocked the sunlight. Such an enormous phenomenon naturally drew the attention of the cultivators within Dream City. Hundreds of thousands of eyes instinctively lifted to observe it.
"Come into the dream..."
Ren Qing let out a faint sigh.
Every cultivator at the Yin Difference realm or above sensed the summons.
An illusion arose in the depths of their hearts that Ren Qing was present everywhere. Faced with such terrifying divine abilities, none of them dared resist in the slightest.
The cultivators hurried toward Dream City. There were already thirty-four Yin Difference cultivators, with the Soldier Vein naturally accounting for the largest portion.
Song Zongwu finally made an appearance after a long absence, standing atop the western city wall alongside Li Tiangang.
The two chatted about everything that had happened recently before inevitably turning the topic toward Ren Qing, speaking words of admiration for him.
Li Yaoyang appeared beside them. Soon afterward, the other Yin Difference cultivators of the Soldier Vein arrived one after another. Even Falcon, who had disappeared for so long, flapped his wings as he greeted Huang Ziwan.
Only Miss Bai was absent. She was still in secluded cultivation, continuing her breakthrough into the Yang God realm. She had reached the most critical stage and no one knew how long it would take.
Mu Yi had only just reached the peak of the Yin Difference realm. The century she had spent within the Longevity Restricted Zone had somewhat wasted her extraordinary talent. Otherwise, she would not still be stuck at the Yin Difference realm.
Judging by the way she reminisced with Li Yaoyang, however, she clearly did not mind.
Song Zongwu smiled.
"So many of the younger generation have already caught up."
"Old Song, if you hadn't run into all that trouble with the Buddhist Sect, you'd be at least a Multitude Yang Immortal by now, perhaps even a No-Birth Immortal. As for me..."
Li Tiangang shook his head. Given his own foundation, reaching the Yang God realm had already been an incredible stroke of fortune. Becoming a Multitude Yang Immortal was clearly unrealistic.
Song Zongwu was just about to offer Li Tiangang a few words of comfort when a ripple suddenly spread across the dream platform.
Immediately afterward, an enormous amount of information poured into the minds of every cultivator at the Yin Difference realm or above, leaving expressions of utter shock on their faces.
The scene seemed frozen in place. Merely looking at everyone's reactions made the moment remarkably entertaining.
Those below the Yin Difference realm had no idea what had happened.
Even Yang God cultivators, who normally resembled terrestrial immortals, could not suppress their emotional reactions. Several even sucked in cold breaths.
All of them knew that Stomach World had been created from Ren Qing's technique. Long ago, it had merely been a bottle world spanning only a few dozen li.
As Ren Qing's cultivation advanced, Stomach World had indeed become increasingly complete, to the point where it seemed no different from a real world.
Yet none of them had ever imagined that Stomach World possessed its own independent Heavenly Dao and could even use that Heavenly Dao to enfeoff cultivators as "immortals"!!!
The Cocoon Men, the demon-kind, and the other less knowledgeable branches simply felt that becoming immortals was finally within reach.
Han Li immediately sensed that a great opportunity had arrived. He hurried over to the sect master Qingsongzi, and the two began quietly discussing the choices before them.
Daoist Taihan and Jade Splendor both originated from the Insect Nest and had at least heard some things regarding immortality.
Both of them were completely dumbfounded. Their tails lashed uncontrollably against the ground, the gusts they generated sending members of their own race tumbling everywhere.
According to Ren Qing's intentions,
the Mortal World, the Heavenly Palace, and the Underworld would all become completely sealed off in the future. Only those possessing a Ghost Immortal Office could freely travel between them while enjoying the protection of the Heavenly Dao.
Even the benefit of preventing cultivation deviation alone was enough to make countless cultivators covet it.
Above the Ghost Immortal Office stood the Human Immortal Office. Its holders could establish their own personal cave abodes within the Heavenly Palace or the Underworld. Though initially limited to a thousand square meters, those cave abodes could be expanded by integrating spiritual materials.
Ren Qing's purpose in doing this was to have the holders of Human Immortal Offices nurture the Heavenly Palace and the Underworld on his behalf.
All the Yang God cultivators became restless, their eyes fixed upon the authority of the Earth Immortal Office as their breathing unconsciously quickened.
Once someone possessed an Earth Immortal Office, as long as their lifespan had not run out and they remained within Stomach World, they could reincarnate and cultivate anew even if both soul and spirit were utterly destroyed.
Reincarnation would preserve remnants of the strange entities from their previous life, allowing cultivation to progress far more quickly than normal.
What did that mean?
When faced with bottlenecks beyond the Yang God realm, if there truly was no other solution, they could simply force their way through.
Although every realm had its own lifespan limit, not everyone died of old age. Not to mention that once a Yang God cultivator failed a breakthrough, the only option was to head into the Underworld and convert into a zombie cultivator.
Song Zongwu could not use reincarnation to escape the Buddhist Sect, but the Immortal Office could help suppress the drawbacks brought about by Karmic Fire Burning the Body.
What shocked them most was that if Ren Qing continued climbing to even higher realms, wouldn't it become possible to attain true immortality through Stomach World itself?